What sodden Sean Dyche did to Everton away end hints at what players really need after Leicester
Torrential rain pounded the roof of the King Power. Thunder crashed through the ashen skies. Lightning bolts punctured the gloom to light up the pitch. But for all the fury that nature directed at this corner of the Midlands, the elements were unable to conquer an away end that maintained dominance of the airwaves.
Everton’s fanbase is one that has every right to feel drained after years of turbulence that has blighted their club on and off the pitch. Yet still they come. Still they hope. Still they sing. As the storm raged it found itself in a losing fight with the renditions of Spirit of the Blues, Super Kev, Goodison Gang and so on.
Football is about more than emotion. But emotion, at this club, is a powerful thing and for so long in this game it looked destined to fuel Everton to a much-needed victory. This has been a miserable start to the season and, for the first hour, this stadium - like in Everton’s previous two visits - looked set to be the scene of a season-defining result.
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That was not meant to be. Not this time. Stephy Mavididi screwed his close-range volley down into the ground and up over Dwight McNeil’s head. There were familiar frustrations. Everton missed chances, had begun to lose control before Mavididi’s 73rd minute equaliser and conceded that goal from another cross into their own box. A lead was squandered for the fourth consecutive game and Everton remain winless, now after five Premier League games.
Yet there is still some room for optimism. Everton were the better side for most of this fixture. Much of the focus is on the defence and that is justified, a team that notched clean sheet after clean sheet last season is still to record its first of this one. But Everton again looked a threat. They have in most games this year and that is positive.
One great opportunity had already been missed when Everton took the lead in the 12th minute. Iliman Ndiaye, the best player in the first half, won the first battle of his successful campaign down the Blues left and sent a dipping cross into the box that Dominic Calvert-Lewin attacked but was unable to meet. Jesper Lindstrom struck the ball on the volley but, unsighted by his teammate, skewed it well wide.
He did not have long to wait before he was celebrating with his teammates, however. The opening stages of this match were characterised by Orel Mangala’s willingness to take the ball and use it to feed Everton up the pitch. On almost every occasion Ashley Young was in space on the left and it was through the veteran, whose penalty miss sent Everton out of the Carabao Cup in midweek, that the opener came. Lindstrom had fired a free kick into the wall and, as possession was recycled, Young slipped a ball through to Ndiaye. He took it in his stride on the edge of the area and fought off the challenge of James Justin and carried it past Harry Winks before sliding an effort off the inside of the post.
Leicester attempted to do what Everton’s last three opponents had and find a response after going behind. But they struggled. As the heavens opened, Steve Cooper’s side were unable to settle. They foraged forward and had some joy in the middle of the pitch but were unable to find a way through a newly resilient Everton, Mangala and, alongside him, Abdoulaye Doucoure, providing an effective shield to the defence.
Meanwhile, Everton carried a threat. Calvert-Lewin fought hard and was unfortunate not to earn a free kick when he was barged over by Victor Kristiansen just as he was about to break into the box. Lindstrom stung the palms of Mads Hermansen with a fierce drive and his pace, Ndiaye’s trickery and Calvert-Lewin’s perseverance meant Everton always carried menace.
A two goal lead had proved no use to Everton in the previous two league matches but would surely have been enough on this occasion. Leicester were on the ropes for much of this game. Apart from a miss-hit Mavididi cross that almost spun in at the near-post after Jordan Pickford pushed it onto the underside of the bar, they caused few problems in the first hour. The knockout blow was missing though. Again.
The final 30 minutes was always going to pose a challenge. It was always going to pose a dilemma for Dyche, too. Finch Farm was savaged by injury and illness this week and Everton entered the final stages with four players on the pitch who had overcome battles with injury or illness that persisted into the weekend. Dyche’s first change, to introduce Jack Harrison for Jesper Lindstrom, took that to five.
That change removed the threat of Lindstrom’s pace. Like against Southampton, the summer signing missed chances, but his energy and speed has been crucial in relieving pressure and creating opportunities - a positive from a difficult week.
It was around then that the momentum swung. McNeil sent Calvert-Lewin into space and his shot from an angle forced a good save from Hermansen. Minutes later Caleb Okoli headed just over for Leicester and the tide turned. Everton appeared to have cleared the danger seven minutes later when Jam]es Tarkowski who, with Michael Keane, overcame injury to produce a number of key blocks and challenges, stopped a ball over the top from reaching Jamie Vardy. Everton’s midfielders tangled over the dropping ball though, put their defence under pressure and the Mavididi equaliser came from the corner that was a result of those unforced errors.
A lead, once again, had been conceded. Dyche had to weigh up what to do next and his decision to replace Ndiaye appeared to be a nod to pragmatism for a manager who could not afford for another headstart to become another defeat and was managing a tiring away side. Everton still created chances, Calvert-Lewin almost meeting a Doucoure cross. Leicester looked more dangerous though.
Yet still the away end sung. At the end of the match they remained in place as the players walked over to them to show their appreciation. And Dyche, sodden by the downpour, stepped onto the pitch to send his own applause towards the far corner of the stadium. That may have been an acknowledgement that he, like his players, needs the supporters right now. The start to this season has not been pretty. But, together, the squad and the stands have won far tougher battles than the one they are currently in.